Second Chances
by Iwanita
Summary: One-shot. Additional scene from my main story 'New Horizons'. BarricadexBumblebee. Tender caring and sexiness, but not sure about the rating. Full summary inside.


**Author's Note:**

**Important:** This is a **one-shot** scene related to my fanfiction _'New Horizons' _(chapter 19). If you haven't read it, this is story going to sound very odd to you.

**Warning:** This is just sexiness between Barricade and Bumblebee. Don't like, don't read. Consider yourselves warned.

I really don't know how to rate this, because my view of cybertronian interfacing serves different purposes than human mating. The reason is simple: they create new mechs with the Allspark. Hence, you won't find here any anatomically-human-like parts. Sorry to disappoint. The meaning of _interfacing_ here, is just about exchanging feelings and memories and sharing emotions in an intimate way. Probably with a happy ending. *winks*

**Disclaimer: **Transformers characters are © to Hasbro. The story is mine.

I think that's all. So, on with the show!

* * *

><p><span>Extracted from 'New Horizons' (chapter 19):<span>

Barricade was in his alt-form at some distance from the hangar, his chassis low on his tires, grumbling and cursing everything and everyone. Knock Out for being such a loudmouth. Bumblebee for being a stupid Autobot. And himself for being a soft-sparked idiot.

'What in the Pit was I thinking?' He snarled inwardly, angrier with himself more than with anyone else. But the truth was that he somehow had a soft spot for that stupid scout. Maybe it was because he had proven to be a skilled fighter, a quality that he could admire, regardless of the faction. Or because, like him, he also enjoyed a good race. Even that damned shade of bright yellow was pleasing to look at if it was on him...

The police car's frame shook slightly, trying to clear his processors of that kind of corny thoughts. He was starting to sound like a stupid Autobot.

'This fragging planet has an idioticing effect on cybertronians.' He thought. 'Bumblebee spared my life, I brought him a new vocalizer for a much needed repair. We are even. End of the story.' He added for himself, trying to justify his own actions. 'Nothing gained, nothing lost. I'm at peace with that...'

He was pulled from his thoughts by a brief glimpse of bright yellow on his peripheral vision, but when he focused his optics in that direction, there was nothing there.

Humming to himself, he sharpened his sensors. There was a faint echo on his radar. Probably someone trying to mask his signal, but his sensors as a Decepticon hunter were above the average.

Starting his engines in stealth mode, he silently moved towards the signal, more out of curiosity than anything.

It took several minutes of scanning and searching, silently moving around the Autobot facilities. Small glimpses of yellow once in a while betrayed the hidden mech as probably Bumblebee.

"What game are you playing at?" Barricade murmured low. He discarded the idea of the Autobot guiding him into a trap. That was not the scout's style.

He mentally shrugged. After all, it had been a long time since he had used his sharp sensors to do what he was best at: to track and hunt down someone hidden. And he had to admit that he was having a great time playing cat and mouse. The scout was good at hiding and masking his signal. But the hunter was very skilled and drew closer with each passing minute.

Finally, he rounded a corner and stopped. Against the wall of a hangar, there were several semi-transparent empty energon containers. It was deep night, and the lighting was dim, but there was definitely something yellow behind them. And the faint signal was coming from that area too.

Smirking for himself, Barricade transformed back to mech form and approached the containers silently.

"Honestly, I expected better from you than to hide behind a translucent-" He started to say, but stopped on his tracks as he rounded the containers. Behind them, there was only an old yellow parachute cloth.

He was about to snarl in frustration, when he noticed a shadow closing on him. With lightning reflexes, sharpened through years of war, Barricade reacted.

The most logical course of action would have been to roll out of the way of the incoming enemy, to avoid the attack from above.

But he was no conventional fighter. Instead of that, he turned up and caught his enemy mid-air, deflecting him from his course, and using his own momentum to tackle him to the ground.

Bumblebee fell hard on his back on the ground with a loud thud that knocked the air out of his vents, Barricade on him, pinning him down with his own weight.

"Almost." Barricade smirked.

"Yeah, almost." Bumblebee replied from the ground, still a little dazed from the impact. They kept their gazes locked for some long seconds, staring sternly at each other. Finally, Bumblebee spoke again. "So, are you going to get off me, or are you actually enjoying the position?"

Barricade cursed the Autobot scout for turning on him the same sentence he had used that morning. He was about to get up when the last events caught up with his processors. The Autobot scout could have remained at the hangar with the rest of his friends, enjoying the rest of the party. But instead of it, he had came after him, lured him into this 'cat and mouse' game. If he had wanted nothing to do with him, he wouldn't had came in the first place. Clearly, the yellow mech was interested in him.

To the Pit with everything.

"Actually, yes. I'm enjoying it." Barricade smirked shamelessly, his engines purring seductively.

Bumblebee's optic ridges rose briefly in surprise.

"Good. Because I was enjoying it too." The yellow mech replied playfully, his own engines purring low.

The Decepticon hunter chuckled darkly and leaned closer.

"Are you sure about this, Autobot?" He asked, his expression devious, his gaze never leaving the optics of his prey. "Think about our factions, our leaders and our allies... what would they say?"

The Autobot scout reached up a servo and stroked one of Barricade's neck cables with a finger. Then, his servo stopped in a seam, grabbed hold of it, and gently pulled the black and white mech closer.

"To the Pit with our factions, our leaders and our allies." Bumblebee whispered teasingly, his engines purring louder.

"That's what I wanted to hear." Barricade chuckled.

Bumblebee looked deep into his former enemy's crimson optics, looking for doubts, second intentions or hidden motives, but he found none. The police mech had been sincere with him.

"That hangar is mine." The yellow mech said softly, pointing with his helm to the wall beside them. "I think we... would be more comfortable there, and we won't attract undesired attention..."

* * *

><p>Bumblebee's quarters were not very spacious, but they were welcoming. At least now every Autobot had a small hangar of their own. In the beginning of their alliance with the humans, they had have to recharge all together in the same hangar, like if they were common Earth vehicles in a big garage. But now, almost five years later, the Autobot facilities had increased in size and quality, as well as in members. And now, there was a small room for everyone at the Base. Even some of them empty for any unexpected guest.<p>

"Cozy." Barricade admitted, snooping around the room. There were several shelves with different sets of tires and hubcaps. The police mech chuckled softly when he saw them. "I didn't expect you to be the vain type."

"You should see Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's quarters if you want to learn the true definition of _vain_." The yellow scout replied, taking a seat on his berth and letting Barricade continue with his scrutiny. It was amusing to look at him, anyway.

"I am sure of that." The black and white mech smirked, stopping in front of a wall that held several pictures, most of them of Bumblebee with his human friends. Sightseeing in various famous locations. Sam and Mikaela hugging his helm, each one sitting on a shoulder. Mikaela shooting him with a hose. Sam all soaked in water and bubbles...

"You know, it was actually Sam who encouraged me to go after you." Bumblebee said quietly.

"Really?" Barricade rose an optic ridge.

"Yep."

"That human boy has some faulty self-preservation programming, I swear." The Decepticon snorted.

"Some humans can be very forgiving, and very prone to give second chances." The yellow scout said. "I think that's an admirable quality."

Barricade stopped for a few seconds, reflecting on Bumblebee's words.

"And why are you giving me this second chance?" The black and white mech said, coming closer to the berth Bumblebee was sitting on, and resting his servos on it.

Bumblebee thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Because I want to _understand_." He replied. Barricade gave him a quizzical look. "To... understand your point of view before prejudging anyone..." He tried to explain. "It's not like I'm going to abandon Optimus or anything like that... But the things the Decepticons have done lately are not precisely bad. A new Allspark, trying to put our differences behind us for a more important goal... That kind of stuff has made me want to think things through more carefully..." He trailed off. "I don't know if I have explained myself very well..."

"I understand." Barricade replied simply, nodding slowly.

"And you, why did you... I mean... Why _me_, of all the mechs out there?" Fair question.

Barricade thought about the question for a few seconds.

"I suppose that I sensed I had something in common with you... I don't know what exactly." He murmured. "Maybe because of all the times we have fought each other." He smirked.

The yellow Autobot chuckled at that last comment and shook his helm.

"So, are you giving me a second chance too?" He mused aloud.

"I guess so." The Decepticon hunter gave the scout a lopsided grin and climbed onto the berth, slowly approaching Bumblebee until they were facing each other.

Though Barricade had taken the initiative, he kept a close watch of the scout's body language and his expressive face-plates. The yellow mech was not backing off, but he was clearly a little nervous, his door-wings twitching slightly.

"If you are not comfortable with this..." Barricade started to say.

"It's not... it's not that..." Bumblebee murmured, looking away. "It's just..."

"Is this your first time?"

"No... But it has been a long time..." He replied softly. "I think since the beginning of the war."

The black and white mech looked at him for a long moment, studying him. The scout's azure optics saddened.

"You lost someone." Barricade stated knowingly, his gaze softening. Bumblebee's vocalizer clicked softly and he nodded slowly, his optics shuttering. The hunter ran the back of a claw over a transformation seam across the scout's flank in a reassuring gesture. "Show me." He whispered, in a very un-Decepticon-like manner. Syntactically, it had been an order, but his unusually soft tone indicated otherwise. Barricade was being very careful not to force him in any way.

With a faint hiss of hydraulics, Bumblebee's flank-plates shifted slightly, exposing a pair of data entrance ports and two data transfer cables that gleamed silvery under the dim light. Barricade did the same, coming closer until their chests were aligned. Then, he looked to the scout, silently asking for permission. With a small nod, Bumblebee agreed.

Both sets of data transfer cables glided and found the entrance ports in the flanks of the opposite frame, connecting the two mechs with a soft click.

Bumblebee hesitated for a second, but finally lowered his firewalls, and felt Barricade doing the same at his end of the link. When connected that way, cybertronians could exchange everything from memories to feelings, from data files to strategy plans. Anything. And they couldn't lie. But it was also possible, when the firewalls were lowered, to invade the other mech's memories, accessing to undesired information. To force an undesired data retrieval was the closest thing to a rape that a cybertronian could do to another.

But Barricade didn't make a move. Bumblebee could feel the hunter's presence at his end of the link, quiet, waiting for him to make the first move. How could the harsh and fierce Decepticon hunter be so patient and caring when he wanted to? Bumblebee wondered briefly.

Then, remembering the police mech's petition, Bumblebee proceeded to show him some memory fragments from before the war.

"His name was Cliffjumper." He said. "We were once guards at Simfur Temple. He had almost the same frame type as me, but red in color."

"You guarded the original Allspark at Simfur Temple? I had no idea."

"Yeah. But it sounds way more spectacular than it really was. The truth is, that it was a very boring job. I usually got anxious from just sitting around. And Cliff always told me to relax and let the action come to us." Bumblebee chuckled slightly. "One day we had what we asked for. One of the scariest things of my life."

"What happened?"

"An alien invasion. They tried to steal the Allspark." Bumblebee accompanied his narration with images and video files from the attack.

"I heard about that. But I wasn't aware that you two were on guard duty at the time."

"Yeah, it was chaos. And can you imagine who came to help us to fight those aliens and save our sorry afts?"

"Who?"

"The High Lord Protector himself."

"Megatron!"

"Yes. How ironic." Bumblebee laughed. "He even reprimanded us later for not doing our job properly... But then again, all that was before the war..."

"What happened to Cliffjumper?"

"We got separated in different teams... And he died later... I'm not sure how or who killed him... I don't wish to know it." Bumblebee's presence irradiated sadness and sorrow. "It's not important anymore... And please, if you know it, don't tell me."

"I honestly don't know." Barricade murmured, quietly waiting at his end of the link, feeling the yellow mech's sorrow, just picking up the sadness, letting it wash over him. After a while, the pain and grief lessened. Sharing one's sorrow always helped to make you feel better.

"Thank you..." Bumblebee murmured, absently tracing the seams along the other mech's flank. Barricade leaned into the touch, letting the scout know how good his caresses felt. "And you? When was the last time you had the opportunity to relax for a while with someone close?"

Barricade's aura changed suddenly, radiating sorrow despite his efforts to block his feelings.

"You lost someone too." Bumblebee murmured in realization. The Decepticon hunter looked away, trying to get hold of his feelings. "Don't. Please, _don't_." Bumblebee pleaded softly, gently grabbing Barricade's face-plates with a servo, and making the hunter look back at him again. "Share your pain with me. It will make you feel better." He wanted, at least, to repay the Decepticon with the same favour.

Barricade grunted slightly. His intentions were pure, but letting his guard down and sharing his emotions with someone else was hard for most mechs, especially battle hardened ones like him.

After a minute of internal struggle, the black and white mech let his firewalls drop again. Bumblebee flinched slightly when he perceived the huge amount of grieving that the hunter kept hidden under layers of cruelty and harshness. He let the waves of pain wash over him. The Decepticon was hurting even more than him.

Barricade had not lost a partner.

He had lost three.

"I... I lost my team." He whispered. "The three of them... couldn't save them..." His vocalizer clicked softly. "I should have called retreat earlier... I was their leader... it was my fault... I should have died too..."

It was frequent for the members of a same team to end up interfacing with each other. After all, it helped to understand their partners more closely, and improved their understanding in battle, making them work better as a whole.

"It was nobody's fault, Barricade. It was the War's." The yellow scout tried to send pulses of comfort over Barricade's grief, and succeeded at lessening it a little. They remained silent, just sharing the pain to make it more bearable. "Tell me how they were." He whispered softly.

Barricade spent some seconds gathering images and memories from his data banks.

"Our team was called the 'Race Track Patrol'. Ground Hog was our medic. He was unusually kind to be a Decepticon, and a good team player. I guess he could have made a fine Autobot." He chuckled bitterly. "Roller Force was tough and harsh in contrast. Always doing things by brute strength. He had no finesse and a strong personality, but he was loyal." He looked away, a new pang of sorrow seizing his spark. "And the last one was Motorhead. He was a rookie. Always trying to impress me by doing things by himself, taking unnecessary risks... I yelled too much at him for that... And I regret it now..."

Another long silence passed, the Autobot and the Decepticon sharing pain and regrets back and forth, realizing that besides the emblems imprinted on their frames, they were not so different.

"I am so sorry..." The yellow scout murmured.

"It wasn't your fault either, Bumblebee."

"I know but... We have been at war for so long, that I had forgotten... that we all are the same, and that we suffer the same. We all are full of pain and regrets, and we all carry old wounds hidden beneath our armor, some of them impossible to heal completely." The Autobot explained.

"I admit that sometimes, I didn't know how I managed to keep on fighting..." Barricade mumbled.

"...When every hope seemed lost, and I just wanted to give up." Bumblebee ended.

"Stupid war..."

"Yeah..."

They fell into a thoughtful silence again, just feeling each other's presence through the link. Bumblebee's kind and soft. Barricade's steady and slightly harder. Finally, the yellow scout leaned into the hunter's space, snuggling against his chest-plates, into his warmth.

"Thank you, for showing me." Bumblebee whispered.

"You are welcome." Barricade replied a little awkwardly. He stared down at his former enemy, feeling his proximity, his defenses down, his new-found trust, his vulnerability. And he found that he didn't mind it at all. It felt surprisingly nice to be trusted again by someone in that way after so long. "And thank you for giving me a second chance, I guess." He put an arm around the yellow mech, pulling him closer, and with his free servo he placed gentle caresses over the scout's door-wings.

Bumblebee purred softly, enjoying the attentions.

"This is so stupid."

"It is."

"And odd."

"Definitely."

"But it also feels strangely... _nice_."

"Yep."

"And I just don't give a frag right now about what the others might think."

"Neither do I."

Both of them chuckled in unison, starting to cheer up, little by little.

"Hey, 'Cade." Bumblebee called, and felt the hunter smirk at the nickname.

"Yes, _Bug_?" Of course, Decepticon manners were conspicuous by their absence.

"Can you imagine, Optimus' face-plates if he were to discover us here like this?"

"With or without the battle mask?" Barricade snickered, making Bumblebee giggle.

"And what about Megatron?"

"Oh, he would have a spark-failure." He chuckled. "But if he survives, he would terminate me for sure." And despite his ominous prediction, he couldn't help but laugh harder, making Bumblebee burst into laughter too.

"I would have never imagined that you could be so... _gentle_ if you wanted to." The scout said after a while, when the giggles subsided, enjoying Barricade's caress on his door-wings and transmitting his pleasure through the link.

"Well, I didn't want to scare you..." The hunter grumbled a little, and Bumblebee felt his slight embarrassment. "Though I must admit that this is not precisely my style." He added with a low purr.

"Hmm... And what would be your style?" The yellow mech said teasingly, his presence gleaming with amusement and trust across the link, showing him that he was not afraid at all, encouraging the other mech to take the lead.

Barricade's engines revved, pleased and aroused by the invitation.

"My style, you ask?" He purred, a dark chuckle rumbling deep inside his frame.

And with a quick and slightly rough movement, he shoved Bumblebee on the berth, leaving him laying on his back. The scout gasped in surprise, his frame tensing briefly with the sudden change of orientation, but immediately relaxed, his sensors no longer perceiving the other mech as an immediate threat. Barricade was looming over him with a predatory smirk on his face-plates.

"I am the _hunter_. You are the _prey_." He said, his voice husky with passion.

Bumblebee's optics widened, feeling the other mech's arousal through the link. Barricade liked to be dominant and possessive. To be in control. That was his style.

"I can deal with that." The yellow mech replied, lowering his firewalls even more, surrendering to his former enemy, permitting him to be in control, to take the lead. And it felt surprisingly good.

Barricade growled, extremely pleased and turned on by the scout's submission, and ran his claws over the yellow frame, from the abdominal plating, carefully pinching the cabling below them, to the upper chest-plates, tracing the transformation seams with eagerness.

Bumblebee couldn't stop his engines from purring in delight, his cooling fans whirling to life. The police mech's touches were not intended to cause pain or harm, but neither were they gentle. Barricade was enjoying his frame as if he were a long desired prize that he had managed to obtain at long last.

And then, Barricade closed the small space that still separated them, lunging for Bumblebee's neck cables. The scout threw his helm back and gasped softly, shuttering his optics, the hunter biting and nipping at the delicate cabling, flooding his sensors with pleasurable sensations. A keen moan escaped his vocalizer when the hunter bit a little too hard, drawing a thin trail of energon.

Barricade couldn't stop a small glimpse of guilt from creeping inside his processors as he tasted the sweet life-blood, but it was quickly dismissed when all that came from Bumblebee were waves of pleasure and arousal, numbing any sensation of pain that he may have felt.

"Please... don't stop." The soft whine of the scout made Barricade focus again, realizing that he had stopped his attentions, momentarily worried by the small wound inflicted to the yellow mech.

Barricade's engines revved in arousal, sending pleasant vibrations through his frame. He licked away any trace of energon, earning quiet moans and gasps from the scout, who was now sliding his servos under the hunter's armor plates, caressing the delicate machinery and cables below.

"You taste so sweet... you are delicious." The black and white mech said huskily, still placing light bites on Bumblebee's cabling, a servo caressing his chest-plates. "And you are irresistible when you make those little whines and moans. Why didn't I discover you earlier?"

"We were... a-ahh... too occupied fighting... uhh hmm... like idiots!" The scout managed to reply between gasps and moans.

The hunter chuckled in amusement, his presence drawing closer through the link, radiating amusement, lust, desire and somewhat possessiveness. Bumblebee transmitted joy, passion, acceptance, trust, want and need as he closed the distance even more, both physically and virtually across their shared connection.

Physically, they could feel their frames against each other, the purring of their engines, the warmth radiating from their chests, the soft whirl of their cooling fans.

Virtually, they felt their very essences, their consciousness. Bumblebee's softer, brighter, kind but resolved. Barricade's harder but gentle, steady, _protective_. The scout's joy and happiness grew when he perceived the hunter's protectiveness and he finished closing the distance between them, lowering all his firewalls, letting the other mech's presence embrace him, surround him, care for him. Barricade couldn't believe how lucky he was as he wrapped himself around Bumblebee, reveling in his want and need. In his acceptance of him despite their past. Despite of _who_ he was. Despite of _what_ he was. The scout was giving himself to him, surrendering to him, and Barricade felt the fierce and sudden urge to protect his former enemy. It was surprising, but oddly soothing to be trusted again.

Their sensations and feelings were intertwined between them, making it impossible to distinguish now who felt what, a delicious mixture of pleasure, need, joy, trust, arousal, want, acceptance, repentance, forgiveness, happiness, care, protection.

The feelings grew more intense with each passing moment, some of them subsiding until all what was left was pleasure and trust, building up, clouding their processors and replacing any other logical thought until they reached their climax.

Desperate need.

Overwhelming desire.

Blissful surrender.

Endless delight.

Barricade gasped and let himself fall slowly over Bumblebee, resting his helm over his yellow chest-plates, basking in his warmth and feeling the steady pulse of the scout's spark.

"Frag the factions." He murmured, still dazed from the overload still blurring his sensory input.

Bumblebee chuckled weakly, also tired, and wrapped an arm around the hunter, running his servos along the transformation seams on his back. Barricade shuttered his optics, grateful for the attentions, just content to be there.

They remained clinging to each other, resting for several minutes until their systems completely rebooted, their presences separating slightly across the link, but still lingering close, circling each other and occasionally brushing one against the other, playfully, affectionately.

Then, Barricade rose, resting his weight on his arms, each one of them placed at each side of the Autobot scout. He loomed over him and locked his crimson gaze into his azure one.

"Thank you, 'Bee." He said after some seconds of quiet contemplation.

The yellow mech sent a welcoming pulse through the link that still connected them, and happiness at the use of the nickname, instead of the usual teasing 'Autobug' or 'Bug'.

"No." He shook his helm. "Thank _you._"

"Well, we are not going to fight over that right now, are we?" Barricade smirked, and Bumblebee felt his sincere amusement.

"Honestly, no." The yellow mech laughed, and gently detached the data transfer cables that were still keeping them connected, albeit a little reluctantly.

Then, he playfully pushed the other mech back and hopped off the berth. Barricade made an indignant noise but let him go.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Hmm... As I won our last race, I was thinking about giving you a _second chance_ to beat me." The yellow mech said, dropping into his alt-form and revving his engines teasingly. Sending the wireless command, the hangar doors started to slid aside. "Do you think you can catch me, _hunter_?" He purred suggestively.

Barricade chuckled darkly and also hopped to the floor, landing in a crouch beside the bright Camaro and slowly tracing the curve of the chassis above the right rear wheel with a claw.

"I think I'll give you a ten-second head start, _my prey_." He purred huskily. "Counting now." He added in a malicious whisper.

Bumblebee revved his engines again and shot out through the hangar doors as soon as there was enough room for him to pass, his tires skidding briefly on the pavement, his laughter dying in the distance.

Barricade grinned to himself and dropped into his Mustang Saleen alt-form, shooting off ten exact seconds after the yellow car, following his dust trail, joy and excitement running through his circuits.

Yes, everyone deserved a second chance.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN]:** As you would probably know by now if you follow my fanfics, I like to focus on this aspect: while the Decepticons are generally bad guys, they are not heartless monsters, they also have feelings and war has also affected them greatly. And in this intimate moment, 'Bee and 'Cade discover that they are not so different after all. They all suffer the same.

So, what do you think? Is it fine with a **T** rating? Or should I raise it to **M**?

**EDIT:** Revised and corrected by Angelcakes19 (28-06-1012).


End file.
